1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aircraft electric power system.
2. Description of Related Art
Various electric devices are installed in an aircraft, and these devices are driven by an electric motor mounted in the aircraft, for example. An example of the aforementioned devices is an electric-hydraulic pump for supplying pressure oil to a hydraulically operated actuator that drives moving surfaces, as disclosed in JP2011-247334 A.
Note that moving surfaces include primary flight control surfaces configured as control surfaces such as an aileron, a rudder, and an elevator, and secondary flight control surfaces configured as a flap, a spoiler, and the like. Other examples of the aforementioned devices include an electric actuator that drives the aforementioned moving surfaces, legs (mechanisms that support an airframe of an aircraft on the ground) of landing gear (undercarriage), and the like.
An electric actuator is also known as an actuator that drives moving surfaces. An electric actuator has a screw mechanism, for example, and a rod in the screw mechanism is displaced due to the driving force of an electric motor.
A moving surface is displaced by this displacement of the rod.
For example, the electric motor in the aforementioned electric actuator requires a large current (inertial acceleration current) in order to start displacement of a moving surface. That is to say, when starting an operation of the electric motor, a large current (transient current) needs to be generated instantaneously in order to generate an inertial acceleration current. Moreover, in the case of simultaneously operating a plurality of electric actuators, a plurality of electric motors simultaneously begin to operate, and a larger current needs to be generated instantaneously in an aircraft.
For this reason, in general, an aircraft needs to have a large power unit in order to generate the aforementioned large current. Furthermore, an aircraft needs buses having a large cross-sectional area in order to distribute the aforementioned large current to electric motors. Consequently, the gross weight of the airframe of an aircraft increases. Since there is significant demand for a reduction in aircraft weight, there is significant demand to further reduce the weight of the devices in the aircraft.
In view of the foregoing situation, an object of the present invention is to provide an aircraft electric power system with which a large amount of electric power can be supplied to a load while suppressing an increase in size of a power unit and the like.